Anger in Senate over lynching of four students

There was anger in the Senate yesterday over the killings of four students of the University of Port Harcourt , Rivers State .

This followed the adoption of a: “Motion condemning the murder of students of the University of Port Harcourt and one other person at Omuakiri Village, Aluu, Rivers State’’.

It was sponsored by Senator Ayogu Eze (Enugu North) and supported by 90 others.

On October 3, the Senate decried what it called the reprehensible murder of 46 students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State .

Senate President David Mark, described the ‘gory incident’ especially as posted on social network as totally condemnable and atrocious.

He noted that the manner of the students’ death has brought to the fore the urgent need for state police.

The Senate President deplored the inability of security agents to apprehend perpetrators of crime in the country.

But he insisted that Nigeria should not be classified as a failed state, saying that the existence of the legislature, judiciary and executive arms of government clearly show that the country is not a failed state.

He said: “There is no doubt that this act is condemnable. We feel for the students who have lost their lives, we feel for their parents, but there is a local saying that when you point a finger to someone else, four others are pointing at you.

“So, we all have a share in ensuring that there is safety of lives and property in this country.

“It is not that crimes don’t happen else where, but the difference between crimes else where and crimes in Nigeria is that outside this country, the perpetrators are arrested as quickly as possible and brought to book.

“The reason why people don’t want to commit crime is the fear of punishment that is the consequences of it.

“Here if you commit crime and you think you can go scot free, then it is jungle justice.

“I must also emphasise that the legislature exist in this country, the judiciary is there and the executive and this clearly are not signs of a failed state.

“If we have not reached where we ought to reach and where we want to be that doesn’t make us a failed state. I must emphases that.

“The mere fact that we can sit down here and debate issues is a clear indication of democracy at work.

“In a failed state, you will never have an institution like the Senate, every one will be out on the street with guns and machetes and knives.”

Mark said what happened in Aluu community and the way it was posted on the social media show the merit and demerit of the social media.

“One thing that has come out of it is that those who were at the scene of the incident can easily be arrested by the police.

“The video is there and they can easily be identified and so they should as quickly as possible bring them to book as a lesson for others.

“I think the police truly is being challenged and there cannot be police everywhere but the moment it happens and they get a report they should be able to bring those involved to book

“I have said this before that I was against state police but I have since changed my mind.

“I said so the other day, because the actions, the frequency with which so many crimes are being committed in this country and the difficulty the police have in carrying out their investigation means that there are real security challenges that we need to address.

“To address them realistically, we must make sure that there are enough police men that can police this country.

“Those who are against state police of course they have their good reasons but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages at the moment.

Senator Eze lamented the lynching and burning on October 5 of the three 200-level students, Chiakika Lordson (Theatre Arts), Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor (Geology), Mike Lioyd Toku (Civil Engineering) and their friend, Tekena Erikena, all below the age of 22 years.

He urged the Senate to condemn the dehumanising manner in which “the four students were stripped naked, marched along like common criminals, battered into stupor and eventually coma in a most horrifying display of callousness ever captured on celluloid before setting them ablaze in the full glare of cheering and enthusiastic spectators and traducers.”

The Enugu State lawmaker said he was appalled by “the flimsy and yet-to-be substantiated allegation of theft of laptops and blackberry phones.”

He quoted a Student Union activist Rhino Owhorkire, who is an indigene of Aluu, as saying that “till date the laptop and blackberry phone have not been produced as evidence of the trumped-up robbery tale.”

Senator Eze said all the theories adduced as the reason for the crime, including allegations that the killing was masterminded to cover up the brutalisation the deceased suffered in trying to recover a debt owed them by an indigene of Aluu as well as that the deceased and one other person allegedly at large were conducting cult rites when they were caught, “be thoroughly investigated for a clue to this descent into barbarism.”

He said the Senate should be worried that the Uniport incident is coming one week after another systematic murder of over 40 persons, majority of them students in another institution of higher learning in Mubi, Adamawa State and less than two weeks after another shooting within the University of Jos.

He cautioned that the situation could flare up across the country and escalate out of control if not properly diagnosed, treated and curtailed.

The Senate, he said, should equally be worried by “the cold attitude of leaders of Aluu community who allegedly gave approval for this extra judicial killing after keeping the victims between 5.30 am and the time they were eventually hounded into death in a most gruesome torture known to modernity.”

Eze agreed with the spokesmen of the Police in Rivers State , Ben Ugwuegbulem, Vice Chancellor of University of Port Harcourt, Vice Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ajienka and the Rivers State Government that the community had no right to take the law into its hand or to indulge in self help in dealing with the students.

He described the arrest of the traditional ruler of Aluu, Alhaji Hassan Walewa and 12 members of the community as a good step but “a little too late in the day given that a police station is allegedly located within a shouting distance of the scene where the killing took place, yet the noise that attended the spectacle did not attract the attention of the police till after the boys had been liquidated.”